


flip phones and infinity stones

by sunbean72



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: "I'm not looking for forgiveness", A:IW, Avengers: Infinity War, Bruce Banner - Freeform, Captain America - Freeform, Gen, Hulk - Freeform, I see, IW SPOILERS, Is he though?, Maybe he only meant ross idk, Tony Stark Centric, but it was kind of a big deal for me, i guess?, i've been contemplatin, if you don't think this is about tony stark it's like you don't know me at all, just a moment of it, so just like that we're cool (Rhodey???), spoilers for the movie, steve rogers - Freeform, what other tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-04-30 00:21:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14484543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunbean72/pseuds/sunbean72
Summary: ***Spoilers for Avengers:Infinity War in the blurb so don't go there, don't do it, if you haven't seen the movie and have somehow managed to avoid spoilers did anyone pull that off at all??***Bruce calls Steve after Tony and Dr. Strange disappear





	flip phones and infinity stones

It felt like he'd been Hulk for so long, he couldn't manage his own body anymore. He tripped at odd moments; his feet were all wrong. Words fumbled through his mind as if stumbling over obstacles that weren't even there anymore, as if he had miscounted the steps and was always taking a small fall, jarring, startling. He just couldn't manage to find his footing at _all--_

He walked down the street, staring at the ruin and wreckage from the battle. It felt odd and distant too. This felt like a world he no longer belonged to, he'd been away, but to him it hadn't been that long, so why did it feel as foreign and unfamiliar as Sakaar had? 

Everything felt wrong.

When he had come to himself again on Sakaar, he remembered telling Thor that it had felt like Hulk had the wheel and he was locked in the trunk. But now, it felt different, it felt _weird_ because it was Hulk that felt distant and unavailable, not in a trunk, not even in the same car. The missing anger and energy left him empty, bleak, confused, like a moment after waking when you remembered the dread but not the reason for it. It had been long, so long he'd forgotten all about it, since he felt worried about his own life, worried he might not make it. Without knowing it, he'd depended that Hulk would always protect and save him and now that the battle was over and Hulk _hadn't,_ had actually _withdrawn_ and he'd even failed Tony, he felt _afraid. ___

He spotted the phone and picked it up just as Wong opened a portal behind him. "What will you do?" He asked the wizard.

"The sanctum cannot remain unguarded," Wong said. "What about you?"

Bruce blew the dust off the phone, wondering how it had survived the carnage. He lifted it slightly to show Wong. "I gotta make a phone call."

He wandered down the street, stumbling slightly over the rubble until the bars were full and he was well away from any noise and bustle. He opened the phone and scrolled to the one number in it and pushed SEND.

...

"Tony." He'd picked up on the first ring. Bruce didn't want to read to much into it, Tony hadn't had time to tell him what exactly had gone down between him and Steve, but it was a good sign, wasn't it? That Tony had the phone and Steve picked it right up?

"Steve?"

There was a pause and then Steve sounded stern. "Who is this? Where's Tony Stark?"

"Uh... it's... it's me, Bruce. Bruce Banner, the Hulk. Tony... he's not here Cap."

There was another pause, this time stretching out. "Dr. Banner, I'm glad to hear you're back, where have you been? Is Thor with you? Where's Tony? And it's just Steve now."

"Oh. Right, okay. Steve. I was in space, it's a long story. No Thor's not with me, but he was--" his throat constricted so tightly around the words that he almost choked. Like always, everything that happened when the Hulk was in charge seemed distant, out of focus, spotty. It took an emotion stronger than anger, stronger than rage, to reach him and in this case, _fear_ had tamed the monster, fear when Thanos had knocked him flat. "I don't know where he is, but he's not here. He might not... he might not be coming. Steve, listen, there was an attack on New York. There was this portal then these two giant _things_ and one had a mace, like battle ax thing and the other one could move things with his mind--"

"I saw the breaking news, I saw... I saw Iron Man and Spider-man fighting, and a man in a red cloak--"

"One of the wizards, Dr. Strange. He--"

"Did you say wizard?"

"Yes, there were two wizards, protecting the time stone--" He shook himself, remembering the urgency of what he knew, trying not to focus too much on what they'd already lost. "Steve I'll explain later, but we can't even worry about that right now, it's going to get much worse and we don't have much time!"

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Where are you exactly?"

"No no no, don't come here Cap-- Steve. You gotta find Vision, listen, you have to find him. It's Thanos, he's after the Infinity Stones, they'll grant him unlimited power and he's going to destroy half the universe. All life, all planets, all of it, gone if we can't stop him and one is sitting right in the middle of Vision's forehead. He can't get that stone. We have to find him, Tony said--"

"Dr. Banner, did you see Tony? Do you know where he is? Is he in trouble?"

"Tony is... he was going to call you." From what he understood, that should be all Steve needed to know about whether or not Tony was in trouble. Sure, his hands were shaking. Sure, he hesitated. But he had the phone out, he had it open. "I know now's not the time, but he said the Avengers broke up? Cap... I mean Steve." He could hardly keep his voice from breaking, and there he was surrounded by all the evidence he needed the world was crumbling around him but this seemed somehow much worse in the moment, the realization that something he'd thought infallible, inexorable, had collapsed. The Hulk was gone. Thor was gone. The Avengers were gone. Things he thought were permanent, things he thought were eternal were just _not_ and he could see no clear was forward with the seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

"It's a long story Dr. Banner," Steve said evenly. "There were politics involved--"

"Politics?" He responded, bewildered. "Tony let politics destroy the Avengers?"

"No. No! He... he didn't. That... that was the start of it. There were other things that happened, and we fought."

"You guys are always fighting?"

"Not fighting like that, not arguing. There was this issue that came up with Bucky--"

"Who the hell is Bucky?"

There was the static sound of Steve letting out a harsh breath. "The Winter Soldier, remember?" Bruce wracked his brain, it sounded familiar but it had been so many years ago. 

"Your friend the Hydra assassin," he recalled doubtfully. "How was he involved in all this?"

"It's, it's complicated. Things didn't end well. "

"Tony said something about toast." And his expression had spoken to something more, a dark look in his eyes that he only got when he talked about Stane, not that he often did. Bruce suddenly wished he hadn't asked, didn't really want to know.

"But Tony knew he could call me if he needed anything. Why didn't he?"

"People were being attacked, buildings were being destroyed, he had to go. I don't think you could have been here in time unless you're in the neighborhood; it happened really fast. Tony was fighting the one that could move things with his mind, I tried to Hulk out to take on the other one, the big one, but I couldn't, I don't know why that's happening. Tony needed my help but I wasn't there, the Hulk wasn't there when he needed--"

Distracted, Bruce tried to collect his thoughts. "Cap, I don't know what to do."

"Dr. Banner, it will be all right. I've been trying to find Vision. It might take me a bit longer than I'd hoped, Wanda seems to have gone off grid. But I swear I'll find him. You need to get to Avenger's compound where Colonel Rhodes is based. Tell him what you know, and... hell or high water, I'll get the rest of us there."

"Rest of us."

"Me, Natasha, Sam, Wanda. Vision."

"Natasha is with you? Where's Clint?"

There was a pause. "He's with his family, he can't come at the moment. Can you make your way to Avenger's Compound?"

"Tony told me about it, before I left, but I've never been there." Steve spent a few minutes telling him the best way to get there, informing him the sprawling estate would be difficult to miss though there was a lot of security.

"Dr. Banner... Bruce. I have to go. But... are you all right?"

"I don't think I am. Just hurry as best you can."

He closed the flip phone, wondering if he would be able to find a charger for it if needed. He wondered if Valkyrie was safe with the remaining Asgardians and Korg. He wondered if he would be able to find a cab.

**Author's Note:**

> Please give me some comments!


End file.
